HC turns down appeal of suspended inspector of weights and measures department who amassed huge wealth, including two buildings and 40 plots of land in and around Patna.

The suspended inspector’s assets include two buildings, besides 40 plots of land in and around Patna. (AP representative image)

The vigilance department is all set to confiscate Rs 30 crore-worth assets of a former Bihar weights and measures inspector after the Patna high court gave its nod for the same in a disproportionate assets case.

The court on Friday dismissed the now-suspended inspector, Om Prakash Singh’s plea against a Muzaffarpur vigilance court order directing confiscation of the assets.

The vigilance investigation bureau (VIB) will seize two buildings—one a six-storey building housing 11 tenants in Lalji Tola area of Patna—besides 40 plots in and around Patna.

Singh, who has been waging a legal battle since the agency seized Rs 20 lakh cash and Rs 7.43 lakh investments in bonds in 2009, had started as a clerk in the agriculture department in 1975. Fifteen years later, he was promoted as a weights and measures inspector, a post considered ‘lucrative’.

Vigilance officials say they are “simply stunned” by the wealth amassed by an “ordinary” state government employee.

Vigilance court judge Kumar Prakash Sahay had on January 12, 2015 ordered confiscation of Singh’s property, originally valued at Rs 1.19 crore. Singh challenged the order in the Patna high court, which rejected his plea last Friday.

The special vigilance courts have passed confiscation orders against 21 officials and seized assets worth Rs 11.30 crore since they were constituted in 2007.